BIRD NERD

My plan was, not to feed the neighborhood birds this summer. Bird food is plentiful or they wouldn’t be here in the first place. Fresh water in the bird bath still serves a need and I see to that but then I noticed, I did the math. If you want birds, song birds, birds with character and good looks to frequent your yard, they need a reason. I already had a good, spring loaded, squirrel resistant feeder, several suet cages and a peanut feeder all gathering dust in the basement. It didn’t take much convincing to change my mind about luring birds to my yard. Yesterday I went up to May Milling, on Main Street; came home with peanuts, black oiled sunflower seeds and a blend with millet and thistle seed. 

May Milling; when I was a kid the building was a big, barn-ish cavern with corrugated metal for both siding and the roof. The board floor creaked under our feet and it smelled of leather, hay and grain. My dad took me there in 1947, I was going on 8. We had 3 acres with a barn but no fence. Daisy, our new (to us) brown & white, Guernsey milk cow needed a halter and a lead rope. When she wasn’t in the barn she was staked out to graze on a 50’ chain. When we needed something for Daisy or the barn we went to May Milling. By winter that year the new fence was finished and Daisy didn’t need me to lead her. Her water trough was by the gate and I still had to fill it but the garden hose did the work.

Now, 70 years later, I still go to May Milling for fertilizer, seed and bird food in particular. When Main Street was widened they moved the front door around to the side street loading dock and paved the parking there. But the floor still creaks and the smell is just like I remember. Grandview’s city council thinks it’s an eye sore and would like to see it replaced with a 21st century building but I don’t think it’s a priority. Tractor Supply Co. is just down the road in Belton and they have a huge selection of farm hardware and supplies but I still go to May. The old man who takes my money was also a kid in ’47. His dad made change and thanked my dad for his business just like he does me. Sometimes I go in just to breathe and check the price on a bale of straw. 

Back in my yard, before I could put my tools away, a Chickadee dropped in on the feeder for a sunflower seed or maybe millet chips. This morning the suet cakes have been pecked on and I look forward to nut hatches, feedng upside down on the peanut feeder. The idea of not feeding birds in summer makes sense if all you think about is, do the birds need me? At first glance, House Finches can pass for sparrows but the mottled red on their heads and shoulders give them away. They are getting into the rotation now as well. When I see a Flicker or a Red Bellied Woodpecker at the suet or peanut cage I’ll feel like a regular bird nerd.